I Learned It From The Pizza Man
by bunk12bear
Summary: When Lance jokingly asks the Pizzeria to send their cutest delivery boy he doesn't expect them to actually do it. Based on this text post /pin/862509766112995105/
1. Send your cutest delivery boy

It was movie night, a weekly ritual born out of love of pop culture and lack of money, Pidge Hunk and Lance had spent many an hour watching geeky movies and binging on cheap food.

Today, Lance was in charge of ordering.

"So what are you guys want, this guy from my stats class was saying that there is a Halal truck that delivers"

"Pizza, obviously." Pidge said not even bothering to look up from theTV as she sorted through Netflix deciding which movie to watch.

fHunk poked his head in from the kitchen where he was preparing the snacks " Again? Dude I'm all for pizza but we've had it for like the last 5 movie nights, maybe we could try this Mexican place my cooking club goes to sometimes it's pretty cheap and they make the best tortillas you've ever had I tried to get the recipe Like 5 times but they won't bite. "

"Hey, Pizza is a staple of college life it's cheap, tasty, and has carbs to help you temporarily forget about your impending lifetime of student loans debt." Pidge paused", "go America"

Lance laughed, pulling up the online menu of the local pizza place, "Hard to argue with that."

They end up ordering a large pepperoni pizza, a large garden salad( hunks insistence," I've seen the way you eat Pidge you need to eat more vegetables") and two orders of garlic knots, they weren't as good as his mamá's but they would do.

He was just about to click the order button when something caught his eye.

Special instructions, interesting, he can work with this.

He peered over the edge of his laptop to where Hunk and Pidge were arguing about the merits of pineapple on pizza and, happy that his friends were distracted and therefore couldn't tease him about it, typed "send your cutest delivery boy."

Shiro nearly laughed out loud what he saw the special instructions, "Send your cutest delivery boy." This would be a nice change of pace when he decided to swap work stories with his friends, most of his stories started with something like that frat bro who cussed out because there was half an olive on the side of his buffalo chicken pizza slice, apparently olives where for " Chicks and gay dudes."

" Hey Keith, would you describe yourself as cute?"

" Cuter than you, that's for sure."

" Hey, that's uncalled for," Shiro said pretending to be offended before wrapping his arm around Keith's head and giving him a half-hearted noogie.

" Why were you asking by the way?"

" Read the special instructions before you deliver it, you'll see."

And with that Shiro sent Keith on his merry way.

The doorbell rang and Lance practically lept out of his seat, nearly kicking Pidge in the head in the process.

"Jesus fuck, What what's got you so riled up" she shouted hand rubbing the place on her head where Lance's foot had nearly missed making contact.

"Nothing, I'm just excited for pizza and the doorbell startled me, that's all," Lance said laughing awkwardly" before rushing off to grab the food.

" Well okay then, crazy."

" Pidge be nice."

"He nearly kicked me in the head I'll be as mean as I want to be."

Lance didn't catch Hunk's response though because he'd open the door and holy shit had the pizza place delivered, the delivery boy was a tall and kind of skinny but muscular Asian kid with silky shiny black hair, smooth pale skin and the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen he couldn't place whether they were blue or gray, if he tilted his head a certain way he could have sworn they were violet.

It's a good 10 seconds before either of them says anything

" Wow I didn't think that they actually do it"

" What?" oh god even his voice was hot

"Send their actual cutest delivery boy."

The delivery boy blushed and something did a flip in Lance's stomach. He tried his best to ignore the feeling, this guy might not even be into men, but then again he hadn't been shut down yet and if a little harmless flirting if this is all he could get out of this pinnacle of human perfection then so be it.

=====================================================

Keith didn't really think about what Shiro had said till he stepped off the delivery bicycle, he figured if it had been interesting enough for Shiro to print out it must be worth taking a look.

" Send your cutest delivery boy"

Great, it was probably some giggly teenage girl at some dumb slumber party or a creepy middle-aged woman who would continue to flirt even after he explained that he was gay.

The address was one of those apartment complexes where the ground floor apartments open directly onto the street. He found apartment 1B and took a deep breath stealing himself to whatever was on the opposite side of the door.

The door opened and he flashed his best fake retail smile, Preparing to hand the customer the order but froze upon looking up, that wasn't a teenage girl, oh no it was a boy, a cute boy a really cute boy. He had broad shoulders And long slim but muscular limbs, probably a swimmer, lovely tan skin, wavy chocolate brown hair and The bluest eyes he'd ever seen. Keith was suddenly hyper-aware of how dorky his uniform was.

Was the lovely stranger the one who ordered the pizza? He could have just been a brother or a roommate or something picking it up because whoever had left those instructions couldn't come to the door, this could all be just some stupid prank. He knew not to fall for straight boys, it was like gay 101 no matter how pretty the boy was.

His swirling thoughts were interrupted by the customer,

" I didn't think they'd actually do it"

" What?"

" Send their actual cutest delivery boy"

Okay, so cute customer was the one who left the instructions and was apparently Into men( well probably, still could be a prank)

The customer cocks his head pointing to Keith's messy hair,

" What happened there?," he said and smiled in a way that made Keith's heart race.

" Oh I had to fight off all the other delivery boys for the honor of delivering your pizza."

"By brave hero."

They both laughed and Keith opened his mouth to respond before being jolted out of the moment by a voice from inside of the apartment.

" Lance, quit trying to seduce the Pizza Boy."

The custo .. Lance clears his throat before finally taking the pizza and handing him a tip

"Well," Lance's eyes flicked to his name tag 'Keith, I hope we can continue this conversation the next time you deliver our pizza"

" Sure sounds cool," he said nonchalantly trying to hide how flustered he was. Honestly if it .meant he'd get to see Lance again, he'd never complain about that stupid name tag ever again.


	2. Mister ocean eyes has ordered again

Two weeks had passed and Keith would never admit it but he was disappointed that Lance hadn't ordered pizza again yet. I mean it was understandable, there were many restaurants in the area even a couple of other pizzerias, there was no reason that Lance had to order from them. He was mulling this over only half paying attention to his surroundings when he heard the computer ding indicating that they had gotten an online order decide he sighed and walked over to check the order and nearly yelped in excitement, Lance and his friends had ordered again and this time special instructions said "send Keith if he's working".

Keith quickly sent the order to the kitchen and stood anxiously at the counter. He checked Out his reflection in a spare napkin holder, did his hair look good, oh crap Was there something in his teeth, was there any way of making this uniform look less dorky. He was about to go to the bathroom to get a better look at himself in the mirror when Shiro stormed in from the dining room and let out a frustrated scream into his hand.

Keith's eyes flashed to the kitchen making sure they weren't done with Lance's order yet then turned to Shiro, "what's wrong, customer being annoying?"

"Olive bro is back and this time he's brought A date along I would have thought that would make his behavior better but know if anything he's worse"

"What, did he throw a hissy fit because we're out of meat lovers Supreme pizza"

"Well yes but he also Got mad when I brought over a seasoning caddy with oregano in it, apparently Herbs are for sissies and he keeps calling me bro like we're friends and, and you're not paying attention"

Keith's eyes snapped back from the kitchen, "Yeah, uhh repeat that last part"

Shiro glanced over at the computer and his eyes widened with realization his lips curling into an impish grin.

"Oh, I see mister ocean eyes has ordered again,"

"Oh, shut up Shiro"

"Oh, and he's requested you specifically how interesting"

"SHIRO!"

"you worried about messing up in front of your crush"

Keith's mood shifted suddenly oh, he had an in to this teasing now

"Speaking of Crushes, how's your cute delivery boy been doing"

"That's, that's completely irrelevant we were talking about you"

"C'mon bro, Adam broke up with you Ages ago you got to move on eventually"

"Stop Keith you don't understand"

"Then go talk to Adam, I know you have his contact information still, whatever you do just stop moping about it, and here I thought angst was supposed to be my thing"

Shiro was about to reply when the bell rang in the kitchen. Keith sprang to his feet, and making sure he got the right answer rushed to the bikes with a, "we'll talk about this later"

Lance was nervous, really nervous is he bounced on his heels staring out of the window in anticipation. He really hoped that Keith was working today. I mean maybe he was just covering a shift for someone, he had never seen Keith before and they had ordered from this pizza place A couple times Before 2 weeks ago. He should ask Keith about that if he shows up that is. Oh God what if he creeped Keith out by specifically requesting him was that kind of stalkerish oh he hadn't thought this through. No no deep breaths Lance deep breaths whatever happens will happen, relax.

He had thankfully managed to calm himself down by the time the doorbell rang and did his best to look nonchalant, leaning against the door frame with what he hoped was a confident smirk.

Thank God Keith was there when Lance opened the door and not the delivery lady with no sense of humor that they usually got from this Pizzeria.

"Hey"

"Hey, uh hi here's your food" Keith smiled sheepishly making Lance's stomach erupt in a flurry of particularly excitable butterflies, he didn't think it was possible but Keith was even cuter than he remembered him being.

Realizing he was staring Lance cleared his throat, "thank, thank you" he handed Keith his tip. " wait, why haven't I seen you before 2 weeks ago, I mean other than the cutest delivery boy thing, we've ordered from you guys like a few times I figured I probably would have seen you at least once, I don't think I could forget a face like yours" Lance winced inwardly "I don't think I could forget a face like yours" really and here he thought he left the cringy pickup lines in high school.

"Oh, I actually just started working this shift, coworker why did something earlier and I meant I got to Beyond shift with my brother who's the night manager"

"wait a minute are you going to tell me that your brother is Shiro. cool prosthetic arm, body like a Greek god, jawline that could cut glass, Heart stopping smile, that Shiro"

"um... Yes?" Keith Said, slightly taken aback.

"God course being gorgeous would run in the family, your guys's parents must have some top-notch genes"

"Oh I'm actually adopted"

"Oh, top oh crap sorry I mean I'm sorry about assuming is he is your biological brother rather not tNot abouBeing adopted thing cuz like dude there's nothing wrong with being adopted, obviously"

Keith cut him off" No no you couldn't it down just forget about it"

There was an awkward pause

"That wasn't the worst reaction I've ever gotten you'd be shocked at the amount of white people are suspicious because he and I" he air quoted" look so similar"

"dude I I get it how much do you know how many weird comments I've gotten about my appearance, one time somebody literally told me that I couldn't possibly be Hispanic cuz I have blue eyes, I'm Cuban, dude we come in every shade"  
"isn't Cameron Diaz technically Hispanic"

"Well, half but yeah"

There was another Lull in the conversation Keith seems like he suddenly remembered something

"speaking of stupid questions are you, are you into men?"

"really man, All of my flirting didn't give it away I am A flaming bisexual, you?'

"gay"

"good, good"

"I should I should go, I'm on the clock after all"

"right oh, yeah see you soon"

" ya see you" Keith handed Lance the pizza and took Is tip then turned and walked back towards the delivery bike.

Lance watched him for a second before closing the door smiling like an idiot. He handed the food off to honk then plopped down on the couch with a sigh yep he was definitely not ordering from any other Pizzeria anytime soon.


	3. Lin-manuel Miranda is a gift

After that, Lance ordering from the pizzeria became a regular occurrence.

Their little talks continued to lengthen as the weeks went by, much to the Chagrin of their friends. They discussed music (" Beyonce is a goddess don't you dare insult her"), movies " (I'm excited to see Moana, looks like the music's going to be great" "seriously, Lin-Manuel Miranda is a gift from the musical theatre gods") attractive celebrities( "any opportunity to see Channing Tatum half-naked is a opportunity I'm going to take"), Pet peeves( Why would you clap at the end of a movie no one can hear you, it completely defeats the purpose of clapping) and more.

Lance had just started out as a very cute customer but now Keith was really starting to fall for him. Lance was funny, smart, kind, generous, ambitious and of course devastatingly handsome. Keith didn't know how much longer he could keep this up. Lance knew he was adopted but he had no idea that said adoption happened when he was already a teenager, Lance didn't know about the years in foster care. He knew Lance had a good heart but he was still terrified that he'd run the instant he knew the truth, he wouldn't be the first person to do so. For now, he just has to enjoy talking to Lance when he delivered his Pizza

Lance was smitten, when he had left instructions to the pizza place it had been a joke He never could have imagined that would it would end up here Weeks Later with him Having a giant crush on them and they sent. Angelica Jackson tried to ask him out and he barely noticed because he was thinking about Keith and she was not only gorgeous with a great personality but probably the smartest person in his Statistics class. Beginning of the semester him would have been horrified that he let that opportunity slip. he had dreamed about Keith, dreamed about him, like some lovesick teenage girl but it couldn't help himself Keith was Just so amazing.

Of course, his friends had noticed and had delighted in ribbing him endlessly about his new crush.

" Oh Keith you have such pretty eyes," Pidge said one night Flopping Onto the couch In a fake swoon worthy of a particularly cheesy soap opera

" God even his voice is sexy" Hunk joined in sighing dramatically and fluttering his eyelashes.

" Oh shut up you guys and hunk my man, you were even worse than this when you first met Shay"

Pidge laughed out loud" See this is why I'm glad that I'm an aromantic asexual none of his goobly crap for me, just science and logical reasoning"

" Was it science or logical reasoning that made you cry When somebody brought that really nice RTD2 replica to your robotics Club"

" Shut up or I'll tell Keith exactly what you think about his quote-unquote perfect ass"

It happened like this almost every Time to order pizza, An Occurrence That had, completely coincidentally, increased since Lance met his pretty pizza boy.

Another week's Exchange had been simple as hunk had been too busy preparing movie snacks to join in

Pidge had ordered this time and, obviously priming herself for a joke,Looked up from the menu on her laptop eyes Sparkling mischievously

" Hey Lance, what do you want"

"Uh, sausage"

Pidge looked like Christmas had come early

" Oh I know but what kind of pizza do you want"

Lance rolled his eyes and quickly selected At least favorite movie in the collection in retaliation

After an initial couple of weeks, Lance stopped putting special instructions, Shiro knew to send Keith if he was ordering. This Week however there were instructions, " tell me I'm pretty" easy enough Lance was always pretty.

As he passed the doorbell he wondered what Lance was up to, something that became immediately obvious upon The door opening. Lamps were some kind of Clay face mask thing, pajama bottoms and a ratty old hoodie that looked like it could have Come from his parents' College managed to be gorgeous even in that get-up With his pretty blue eyes and his stupidly broad shoulders,

Keith blushed scarlet. '" you're pretty"

Lance's face lit up and he handed Keith a 20

Lance had spent the next two weeks bragging about how flustered he had made Keith.

The exchange that week had gone normally, Keith handed Lance the food they talked and flirted for a bit and Lance handed Keith his tip but before Rams could close the door Keith grabbed his arm to stop him.

" Open the box"

" What?"

" Just do it'

Lance did as instructed and there amongst the grease stain was a pope

" I know it's like some kind of cheesy but a boy like you makes romance easy"

Lance's cheeks tinted, " I um, I don't think I asked you to write a poem"

"You didn't, I wrote that poem myself"

Lance could have kissed him.

He brought the food back in absent-mindedly dropping it on the coffee table dropping under the couch with a sigh

" Oh, what did Your pizza boy do this time," PIdge asked

" He wrote me a poem, a wonderful beautiful poem"

" And where exactly is this poem Loverboy?"

Lance shot her a dopey smile" on the inside of the pizza box isn't that romantic"

Pidge opened the pizza box and snorted," wow, he's really got a way with words"

" He does, doesn't he"

" I was being sarcastic"

Hunk plopped down next to them," what's happening"

"Pizza boy wrote swoony over here a poem on the inside of a pizza box"

Hunk opened the box and read the poem, "Awwwww ! That's So cute"

"I think I'm going to ask him out"

"You should"

" Yeah, that might stop all the pining, dude it's getting gross"

Lance ignored her and began to chatter happily with hunk planning how exactly he would do this.

The week after the poem Keith was feeling nervous again, What if he had overstepped the boundaries of whatever what's happening between them, he was worried Lance would stop ordering but like clockwork, his order came.

Keith's heart skipped a beat when he read this week's instructions, " Ask me on a date"

Here and to Shiro could just finished up dealing with yet another appearance of olive bro who was as badly behaved as ever.

" Hey, Keith you'll never guess what Olive bro is mad about this time apparently he thinks that me offering his date one of our dessert specials means I think she is fat and" he trailed off " "Wait you look very happy did Lance do something again'?"

"He asked me to ask him out on a date, Shiro, I have no idea what to do"

" do you want to go on a date with him"

"Yes"

" then ask him out, little bro it's that simple"

" if it's so simple then why haven't you asked delivery boy on a date yet"

" Curtis"

"What?"

"His name is Curtis and he's doing the delivery job to pay for medical school, he's studying to be a nurse oh, he's also ex-military like me"

" Wait, you actually talked to him"

" Yeah, we're going out for drinks next Saturday"

" Nice job Shiro!"

" Hey, I got my date with my cute boy you go out and get yours"

"I will"

Keith smiled the entire bike ride to Lance's place

" he hopped off the bike threatened his outfit took a deep breath and knocked on the door

Lance opened it, looking as gorgeous as ever and Keith nearly forgot what he was to supposed to do

" Hey"

" Hey"

" Your most recent instructions are very interesting"

Lance raised an eyebrow, "Was it?

"Completely coincidentally I was wonderingIf you'd like to go on a date with me sometime"

" wow, I have no idea what prompted this but yes, of course, I'd like to go on a date with you"

They ignored the gagging noises Pidge made in the background

"We could have dinner and catch a movie, I still haven't seen Moana"

"That sounds great is the movie theater close to this Mexican restaurant my budy Hunk won't shut up about"

" I love Mexican food, sounds great How does Saturday at 4:30 sound"

" Great, see you then" and with that Lance leaned over and pressed a kiss Keith's cheek

Keith was really looking forward to this date.

 **Author's note: will I get better at capitalization, will I actually address Keith's issues with his past or is that just something I randomly added without thinking about how I'd have to incorporate it, will I actually include Alaura like I promised, what will olive bro do next these questions and more answered go will be answered in the next exciting installment of I learned it from the pizza man!**

 **Okay in all seriousness I'm decently proud I got this far I'm not very good at finishing projects.I ultimately decided to go with Canon for Shiro's little romance side plot, Curtis is apparently the name of the man who marries at the end of season 8 and I know I didn't have them actually have a conversation with him a text in my story but I had them reference a conversation and that's more than DreamWorks gave them.**


	4. The Continued Adventures of Olive Bro

Lance was freaking out, Keith was going to pick him up in less than an hour and he still didn't know what he was going to wear on this freaking date. He rifled frantically through his closet rejecting shirt after shirt, too casual, too casual, not casual enough, why the hell did he even still own this shirt, too casual, not casual - oh, god why was this so hard?

Ten minutes later he'd managed to pair his options down to two. Option one: a dark blue button-up with the sleeves cuffed at the elbows, nice jeans and dark brown leather loafers. Option two: a dark blue Star Wars t-shirt with a blue suit jacket and pants and blue Converse high tops.

Hunk.  
He needed Hunk to make the final decision.

He knocked on the door to Hunk's room, both outfit options folded carefully over his arms. Hunk emerged from his room and seemed to know instantly what Lance needed.

"Hunk, my buddy, my man, my absolute favorite person in the world"

Hunk interrupted,"Lance, you don't have to butter me up to get me to choose an outfit for your date tonight. You're my best friend, of course I'm gonna do that for you. Just show me what you got."

Lance laid the two options down on Hunk's bed and stepped back to let his friend take a look and consider both outfits.

"I'd go with the button up, the last time you wore that shirt the girl in the apartment next door wouldn't stop staring at you. I also overheard her saying something about how it apparently did things to your shoulders."

"Thanks bro!" Lance yelled while running to his bedroom to change and throw on a last-minute face mask.

Keith was practically pacing a hole in the floor of the living room, much to Shiro's annoyance.

"Are you absolutely sure about this outfit?"

"Yes Keith, you look great and I would know, I picked it out.

"Do you think I should get him flowers, or would that be weird?"

"Do you think he'd like flowers?"

"Yes."

"Then buy him flowers, or do I have to pick those out too?"

"Shiro, I'm being serious."

"Keith, relax. He clearly likes you. I mean, he did ask you to ask him out."

"What if it's a prank?"

"It's not a prank."

"How do you know for sure?"

"He wouldn't be keeping it up for so long if this is a prank."

"Yes but do you _know_ that."

"KEITH!"

"Fine, fine, fine, whatever." Keith took a deep breath. "'m okay, I'm fine."

"Listen, Keith, if it somehow is a prank, witch it absolutely isn't by the way, then he's a jerk and not worth your time are your sadness, okay?"

"You sound like one of those stupid inspirational text posts mom and her friends post on Facebook."

Shiro laughed. "Hey at least you're not freaking out anymore."

"Yeah, thanks for the pep talk. I should go now if I want to get him flowers."

"Okay, text me when you're heading home."

"I will"

"If you're taking your motorcycle remember a helmet!"

"Yes mom," Keith huffed rolling his eyes

"Hey, this is a direct order from Mom. If she finds out I let you ride on that thing without a helmet she'd kill me. Slowly and painfully"

"Okay, okay I'll bring the helmet!"

"And bring the spare one for Lance."

"Okay," Keith replied impatiently

"I'm just worried about you. As your big brother I kind of have to be, it comes with the job"

"Goodbye Shiro."

Keith parked his bike in front of a little flower shop and walked up to the checkout counter. There was an old woman behind the register. She looked sweet, plump, vaguely grandmotherly, and was wearing a straw Hat and floral shirt. Exactly the kind of person you'd expect to run a little flower shop.

"How can I help you, dear?"

"I need to buy flowers for a date."

"Aw, who's the lucky lady."

"Um, it's not.. it's not a lady. He's not a lady"

"Oh my mistake, terribly sorry did you have something in mind?"

"Um, not really This is actually a first date but we've been kind of talking for a while. so I know that his favorite color is blue, I think he mentioned licking Hydrangeas. I don't know that much about flowers"

The lady laughed. "Well then it's very good that I have a bouquet of blue Hydrangeas on hand."

"I'll take those then."

After the flowers were wrapped and paid for the lady smiled at him. "Good luck on your date dear."

"Thank you."  
And with that Keith's set off to Lance's house.

The doorbell rang and Lance shot up from the couch to answer the door.

Wow.  
Just _wow_.  
If Lance thought Keith was gorgeous in that ridiculous uniform he wasn't prepared for the way he looked dressed up for a date.

He was wearing a dark red button up, a leather jacket, tight fitting black jeans and black boots.

"Hi Oh these, these are these are for you," he he stuttered holding up a bouquet of blue Hydrangeas.

"I love Hydrangeas, My mom has them in her garden. Oh and they're blue, blue is my favorite color! You remembered."

"I'm glad you like them."

"Let me go get a vase for these. Come in and sit down on the couch while I go find one."

When Lance finally found a vase for the bouquet - it was tucked away on one of the highest shelves, he literally needed a stool to reach it he placed it on the counter for a minute to take a look .Keith had gotten him Blue Hydrangeas. He'd actually remembered Lance talking his favorite flowers and color. Could this guy possibly be any more amazing?. He smiled to himself before checking the time on the stove clock. _'Oh shit if we don't leave now we're going to be late!_

Lance walked away and Keith sat down on the couch only to be greeted by a tiny girl with short brown hair and a tall dark-skinned dude who looked like he could be a linebacker, Lance's roommates, Keith presumed. It was good to finally put faces to names and voices.

The girl-Pidge, if he remembered correctly leaned closer narrowing her eyes menacingly.

"Listen here, dude. Lance may be an idiot but he's our idiot and he's one of my best friends. You know the deal, if you hurt him we will destroy it?"

The big guy Hunk presumably, nodded along, "Seriously, I usually hate violence but you don't mess with my friends."

"Oh, okay."

"And if you think I'm scary, he has four older siblings and like a whole bunch of cousins. You don't even want to know what they'd do after I'm done with you"

"I'm not going to hurt him, I swear!"

"I'm going to take you on your word. For now."

"Um, th- thank you I guess."

At that point, Lance walked back in from the kitchen with the Hydrangeas now in a vase and placed them on the side table by the couch.

"Hey so we gotta leave now if we're going to make the five o'clock movie," Lance said and reached for Keith's hand.

Together they began to walk towards the door. Keith took one last look back only to see Pidge Shot him an "I'm watching you" gesture".

They arrived at the movie theater on Keith's motorcycle. Yes, Keith had a _motorcycle_ and Just when he thought Keith couldn't get any hotter. Lance had already bought the tickets so all they needed to do was present the printed out receipt to the bored looking teenage girl at the ticket booth.

She sighed and rolled her eyes but didn't even bother to look up at them. "What movie do you want to see?"

"Moana please, we already bought our tickets, here's a receipt. They told me to give it to you so you could print out the physical tickets."

"Okay fine whatever, just give me the receipt and…" she stopped halfway through her sentence as she finally actually looked up at Lance. She perked up instantly and immediately went to print out the ticket while looking up at Lance every couple of seconds.

She grabbed the tickets and handed them to him obviously attempting to touch Lance and giggled. "Enjoy the movie, Sir, I hear it's super good," she said dreamily while wrapping a lock of hair around her finger.

"Um...Thank you?"  
Lance might have been flattered by her flirting if it weren't for the fact that, one, she couldn't have been older than sixteen and two, it was incredibly obvious he was on a date.

Once she was out of your shot Keith began to laugh. "Okay what was that about?"

"Seriously, it's soobvious I am on a date with you,' Lance said, indicating their intertwined hands.

"Let's go in before anyone else decides to hit on you."

"Besides you, of course." Lance winked at him.

"Oh, obviously."

The movie was, as predicted, incredible. The animation was gorgeous the music was great and Keith was genuinely surprised at how much he liked Dwayne The Rock Johnson as Maui.

Lance definitely seemed to agree as he emerged from the movie theater dancing and singing an odd fragmented mix of whatever he could remember from "How Far I'll Go" and "You're Welcome". Some people, including his teenage self, might have found it annoying but honestly, it was quite cute. Besides, any excuse to watch Lance was a good one, especially now with him all dressed up. The shirt hugged his shoulders just right and showed off his arms and his pants made his legs look a mile long.

They walked along towards the restaurant, Lance stopping his impromptu concert so they could chat about the movie.

"Can you believe Auliʻi Cravalho is only 16? Imagine being able to sing and act like that at 16! I did theater in high school and I can think of like four different girls who would legitimately have killed a man to get a voice like that at her age."

Judging by his few interactions with the theater kids in high school Keith wasn't sure if that was much of an exaggeration.

"Yeah she was great. I was mostly surprised by The Rock, who knew he was so talented?"

"Actually I did know that, this girl who did hairspray with me in high school was obsessed with him, _obsessed_ I tell you. Oh, and speaking of theater kids, did you see the SNL episode with Lin-manuel Miranda? God, he was brilliant! I swear Crucible Cast Party was taken from hidden cameras for my high school theater days."

"Oh yeah, I saw that it was funny. I never really did any theater so I'm not sure if I got all of the jokes but it was still funny."

They continued chatting, with Lance looking down occasionally to check the directions on his phone. The walk to the restaurant wasn't that long, 10 minutes at most - a fact that Keith was thankful for because he didn't want to be out in the cold for longer than necessary. Three years of going to college up north and he still wasn't used to the winters.

When they got to the restaurant Lance talked to the hostess in rapid fire Spanish, apparently she was more comfortable with with it than English. He didn't understand most of it. He hadn't bothered to take a foreign language class in high school. His father had taught him enough Korean before he died for Keith to opt out of it.

The lady seated them at a intimate table towards the back and handed them their menus.

"What do you think you're going to get?" Keith asked.

"Hunk says fajitas are incredible, I'm going to get them with chicken. He also recommends the tamales, will you share an appetizer of them with me?"

"Yeah sure, sounds great. I've never l had tamales before but they sound good. I think I'm going to get the pollo con mole poblano."

"Oh good choice mole poblano is delicious."

The waiter came by to take their order and dropped off a little round pan full of tortilla crisps. Keith hesitantly tasted one. It was warm and surprisingly flavorful, nothing like the store-bought ones.

Lance grabbed one too and took a bite, his eyes lighting up. "Hunk was right, these are incredible! Maybe I should go back and ask for the recipe for him, turn up the Lancey Lance charm." He wiggled his eyebrows at Keith.

"Really?"

"I'm joking! And hey, it worked on you, didn't it?"

"That and you being incredibly handsome."

Lance's cheeks darkened at the compliment."Seriously though, if they wouldn't give it to Hunk they're not going to tell anyone. I swear, that boy is an angel from heaven! Always has been and I've known him since we were kids."

"He seems like it. Your second roommate on the other hand... What's her deal?"

"Pidge, she's a gremlin but we love her. She's actually two years younger than me but she's some kind of genius who went to college at like 16. We actually met at orientation. I mentioned my sexuality to some sorority sister and she made a face and told me that she didn't have time for" Lance's voice dropped to a whisper "sissy f-a-g-s." His voice went back to normal. "Pidge came over and said: "And he doesn't have the time for dumb homophobic bitches but here we are!" Then I bought her a burger and we've been friends ever since."

"I already met your roommates, any other friends I should know about?

"Yes! Hunk's girlfriend Shay. She's also an angel, ooh and she's demi sexual - not really relevant or anything but fun fact. Then there's Allura, she's bi like me. I used to have a huge crush on her. We actually went on a couple of dates but she was getting over a bad breakup and I was really homesick and it just didn't really work out. Don't worry though, that was a long time ago. Then there's her girlfriend Romelle who's a trans lesbian and the nicest person you'll ever meet, aside from hunk and Shay of course. They live in this really nice house because Allura is this fancy British heiress."

"An heiress?"

"Yeah, but she's like really cool and hard-working. She's getting a business degree so she can take over her father's company - well, technically her uncle's company. Her dad died a few years ago and her uncle was like his advisor or something so he took over the company in her stay until she was old enough and also took care of her. He has a weird name. Karen or Kran, something like that"

"Anyone else?"

"That's my immediate circle of friends. I mean Pidge's brother Matt visits sometimes but he graduated already so he's off doing some smart people thing, I don't know."

"They sound great"

"They are. They're also like super queer. I mean I've already told you about the others and Pidge is Aro Ace"

"And Hunk?"

" Hunk is our token straight person!"

Keith shrugged. "Every group needs one."

"Exactly, how about you? Let's talk about your friends!"

"To be honest with you I don't actually have a lot of friends."

"Oh well I'm sure my friends will have no issue adopting you into the group."

"That sounds nice." Keith hesitated for a second before continuing. "Can I can I be honest with you for a second?"

"Yeah, shoot."

"You have to promise you're not going to think of me differently after you hear, after what I have to say."

"What could you possibly say that would make me think of you differently?. You don't have some like crazy stalker ex or something, right?"

"No, no. it's just... You know I'm adopted right?"

"Yeah, I already said that doesn't make a difference."

"The thing is, I haven't told you the full story. I wasn't adopted as a baby like most people. My dad died when I was nine and I don't know what happened to my mother. I spent a few years in foster care and I was 14 when the Shirrogaines adopted me."

Lance was quiet for a bit. "Wow, that's- _wow._ "

"I can leave now and pay if you're uncomfortable."

"No, no, I'm not uncomfortable! It's just, you've been through so much. Thank you for sharing this with me."

"Thank you for reacting so positively."

"Wait, did other people react negatively?" Lance tried to keep his voice down but failed. Why in the world would people react badly to that?

"Yeah, a lot of people don't know how to react. Some people just cut me out of their lives all together, it's one of the reasons I don't have a lot of friends."

"Well, forget about those people, they're jerks and not worth your time. You are handsome, smart, funny, kind and you drive a badass motorcycle. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life."

"Thank you, that's actually really nice to hear."

Lance grabbed Keith's hand "I can't pretend I understand what you've been through but I know what it's like to be judged for things out of your control. I'm an immigrant actually, we moved to the United States from Cuba when I was five, my oldest brother was going to go to college in the states and I don't remember exactly why but we relocated with him. When I went to kindergarten I didn't speak English very well because I'd only just learned it and Hunk was the only kid who bothered to talk to me. I don't know if I'll ever be able to repay that kindness."

"Something tells me you already have."

There was a loaded feeling in the air between them Keith found himself leaning in for a kiss. Before their lips made contact however, they heard someone clear their throat.

The pair jumped apart and looked towards the sound. It was the waitress, she arrived with their food.

They ate their food while continuing to chat, Keith regaled Lance with the continued adventures of olive bro and Lance offered to feed him a bite of his meal which was far cuter than Keith would ever admit. Keith found out that Lance's full name was actually Leandro but he had chosen the nickname Lance after reading about the Middle Ages because his classmates were having trouble pronouncing his full name. Keith responded with a story about one foster kid from a group home who told him to go back to China after hearing him speak Korean and how he'd been utterly schooled by one of the older foster girls. They were so wrapped up in the conversation that they didn't notice the waitress coming over after they were done eating to clear the table, she gave a long-suffering sigh, muttered something about something about young love then walked off to fetch the bill.

Lance had paid for the movie so Keith paid for dinner and they left the restaurant hand in hand.

Keith was about to get on his motorcycle and but Lance stopped him.

"I had a really nice time tonight, do you think we could go on a second date after the winter break?"

"Yeah, yeah that sounds great!"

"Just so you know, there's no waitresses here to interrupt us."

"You're being rather cliche."

"Shut up and kiss me mullet."

"I don't have a-"

He didn't finish the sentence because Lance's lips were suddenly on his.

He lost track of time as they stood there kissing, he couldn't say there were fireworks or angels singing but god it was a really nice kiss. After a while, they finally pulled apart pressing their foreheads together.

Lance spoke first: "Wow."

"I haven't been kissed like that in ages," Keith confessed.

"Oh, who's cliche now, hmm?"

"Shut up," Keith said and then laughed leaning in for another kiss.

This kiss was shorter than the first, Lance pulling back prematurely with a shiver.

"We should probably go, I'm getting really cold."

Keith had been too wrapped up in the kiss to notice but he was freezing too.

"Of course, I'll drive you home now."

When they arrived back at Lance's apartment he couldn't help but notice two figures silhouetted in the window. Apparently Lance was in for a long night.

Lance handed him the spare helmet and Keith grabbed his arm lightly pulling him in for a quick kiss.

"See you after the break."

"Yeah, can I text you while I'm away?"

"Yeah sure"

"Hey, just you wait our next date is going to be amazing, I have an entire break to plan it after all!"

"I'm looking forward to it."

"Good," he giggled.

Lance leaned over for one last kiss, then walked into his apartment

Keith watch him go with a smile.

Nope, definitely not a prank.

 **Author's note: I have a beta reader now she really helped make my writing sounds more polished and caught some silly mistakes I made so shout out to calliopestories where do such a good job. Hear is Her Tumblr** **and ao3 /users/calliopestories/pseuds/calliopestories**


	5. Epilogue: I can't think of a witty title

**6 months later**

The late June air was hot and sticky, the kind of weather that made you dream of the winter you'd been complaining about only months earlier.

Pidge, Hunk and Shiro lounged under a large tree, ice cold drinks in hand. Keith and Lance had left about twenty minutes earlier to, "get refills" on their pretty much full drinks. They probably thought they were being subtle.

Pidge took a sip from her lemonade. "Where do you think the lovebirds ran off to because it sure as hell wasn't to get a refill."

"Not sure, but if I had to guess I'd say they're probably off kissing somewhere. Like when they needed to 'thank their favorite professors' at graduation."

Pidge laughed. "I still can't believe you actually fell for that excuse and followed them no less! It's your own damn fault that you walked in on them making out."

Hunk put his hands up defensively. "Hey, don't laugh! I had to see my oldest and dearest friend with his shirt halfway off and his tongue down someone's throat. I'm scarred for life, dude."

Shiro winced. "Oh come on, that someone is my little brother. I really didn't need that mental image."

"I'll take that over the two months of pining that preceded their first date." Pidge rolled her eyes. "I swear to God if I had to hear about Keith's 'gemstone colored eyes' one more time I was going to puke."

"Keith was just as bad. He got back from your apartment the first time with this dopey smile on his face," Shiro faked a swoon, imitating said dopey smile, "and he's got these blue eyes, not light like the sky but dark like the ocean."

"Oh my God, really?" Pidge laughed.

"Yeah, I gave Lance the codename Mr. Ocean Eyes to make fun of Keith, as any good older brother would."

"That's better than ours, we just called Keith Pizza Boy," Hunk piped up.

Pidge's eyes widened and she gestured excitedly: "Oh, oh Hunk, do you remember the poem?"

"Of _course_."

Shiro seemed confused. "Wait, what poem? I didn't hear about a poem."

"The week before Lance told Keith to him ask him out Keith wrote Lance a poem." Pidge grinned and splayed her hand out in front of her. "I know it may seem kind of cheesy but a boy like you makes romance easy." she quoted.

"Really," Shiro snorted then grinned, eyes sparkling. "Oh my God, Keith is never gonna hear the end of this."

"I'm never going to hear the end of what?" Keith and Lance were back, clothing rumpled and hair a mess, a suspicious bruise blooming on Keith's neck.

Their friends exchanged a Look™.

"Hey little bro, I didn't know you were a poet."

"Wait, what? I'm not a-"

Shiro interrupted: "I know it may seem kind of cheesy, but a boy like you makes romance easy."

Keith's cheeks went pale. "What, how the hell did you find out about that?"

"Pidge told me," Shiro said gesturing her direction with a shit eating grin.

"Well, I still think it's cute," Hunk said placing a hand on his chest.

Keith's cheeks turned a distinct shade of scarlet. "Please God, kill me now," he croaked, burying his face in his hands.

Lance kissed his cheek. "C'mon babe don't be embarrassed, it _was_ cute."

Keith slipped his hands from his face and grabbed one of Lance's hands in both if his. "You're cute," he said bringing Lance's hand up to his lips and kissing it.

"No seriously, I loved it!"

Keith cocked his head. "Mmm, I love you."

Lance grinned and kissed him. "I love you too."

"Wait, when did this happen?" Shiro asked.

"Couple weeks ago." Lance didn't even bother to look at him.

"Awww! Who said it first?" Hunk cooed.

"Keith actually."

"Really?!"

Keith turned to his brother, "Always the tone of surprise."

Lance's eyes lit up. "Sweety, was that a Harry Potter reference? Oh my God, I love you so much."

Keith shrugged. "You're pretty okay yourself."

"Keith!"

"Kidding, I love you too, sharpshooter."

Pidge began to gag dramatically. "Okay before you two turn this into a total mushy love fest they've just started putting out the food and I'd kill for a hamburger."

The group walked over to the buffet table, clearly whoever had cooked had perused Pinterest heavily. In addition to the usual burgers and hot dogs there were little graduation caps made of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Square chocolates, a candy bar with event-appropriate labels such as gummy "bookworms", a build your own taco bar, neatly organized appetizers like Seven layer dip packed in individual plastic cups and an abundance of mason jars.

They ate their food and chatted amongst the other partygoers. Pidge, Hunk, Lance and Keith answering the usual questions. _So what's the plan? You got a new job offers lined up? Are you planning on getting an advanced degree?_ Keith and Lance also got the weird Probing Questions™ an alarming number of people seemed to think were appropriate to ask a couple. _When are you two getting married? Are you planning on having any kids?_ There was one middle-aged straight couple who _apparently_ had never met a gay couple before, with all the questions they asked. A relationship and graduating College are big milestones so it's natural for people to ask questions, but this was getting exhausting. Keith was one heartbeat away from yelling something like "We're gays, not unicorns!" and running away when Lance found a more polite way to leave the conversation. They went back to their friends to wind down and spend the rest of the party with them.

The five of them returned to the spot under the tree. Hunk and Pidge chatted exchanging information about their latest projects, Shiro sat against the trunk of the tree texting Curtis who was out of town visiting family and Lance and Keith sat side-by-side,wrapped up in each other and hands intertwined.  
Life was good, the future was bright they were happy.

Bonus

 **5 years later**

Lance had been planning this for weeks. Hunk had very graciously taken time off of his busy schedule - which consisted of writing his thesis and taking care of his and Shay's new baby - to go over the plan again and again on the phone, assuring lance that things would be ok.

Keith looked at him from the passenger's seat. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

Keith raised an eyebrow. "Okay?"

"It'll be good I promise." Lance parked the car and lead Keith a short way before stopping In front of a very familiar restaurant.

"This is the Mexican place we went to on our first date"

"Yup!" Lance said. "Let's just go inside, I already made a reservation."

The hostess grinned just a bit too widely to be genuine as she seated them at their table. It didn't take Keith long to notice it was the same one they had sat at on their date all those years before.

As they ate and talked and were generally having a great time, Lance had the feeling that Keith was catching on to what he had planned. Perfect.

They emerged from the restaurant hand in hand and walked in the opposite direction of where they had parked.

"Didn't we park our car that way?" Keith asked, puzzled.

"Yes we did but just trust me."

Lance led Keith down the street quickly before stopping abruptly and pulling him to the side of the highway towards the road.

He grabbed Keith's hands. "Hey so by now you probably realize that I've been recreating our first date, I have a reason for that. The last five years have been wonderful. You make me so happy-"

"Lance, are you...? Keith interrupted tears suddenly welling up in his eyes.

"Shh, let me finish. You are 100% without a doubt the one for me and know I want to spend the rest of my life with you so" Lance got down on one knee and pulled out a ring box, "Keith Kogane, will you marry me?"

Tears were streaming down both of their faces by now. "Oh my God, you beat me to it!" Keith said but pulled Lance in for a kiss.

When they broke the kiss Lance took some time to wipe his eyes and then tilted his head coyly. "So that's a yes?"

"Of course it's a yes you idiot."

"Good," Lance said then slipped the ring on to Keith's finger and kissed him again.

He pulled back abruptly, "Oh there's something I have to do. Babe, hold your hand up next to your face so I can get a picture."

Lance quickly snapped the photo and posted it to Twitter and Instagram with the caption "I liked it so I put a ring on it" and a bunch of hashtags about love and marriage.

Keith snorted. "Isn't that song like 15 years old?"

"Shhh babe, Beyonce is eternal."

 **Author's note: aaaand that's a wrap. Thank you again to Calliopestories for beta reading this.**

 **Olive bro sadly didn't make an appearance in this chapter but I just couldn't find a place to fit him in, he might make an appearance in other things I write though.**

 **I didn't put it in but I firmly believe some of the mentioned hashtags in the proposal scene would be ones Lance made up like Lancy Lance is officially off the market.**

 **In the first part, if it wasn't clear Pidge, Hunk, Lance, and Keith have all graduated college and are at a graduation party.**

 **In the second part, I wanted to include more like maybe their friends and family reacting to the engagement but I thought of the closing line and couldn't not end on that so c'est la vie.**

 **Thank you to anyone who read to the end of my little story that actually means a lot.**


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